Broșura Brăila

Braila, the city with acacia trees

From the beginning we have to mention that this guide book is not meant to give to the tourist the official information or the best explanation about sites, museums or other interest points featured in the guide but it will be a very useful and handy friend on your walks along the streets of beautiful Braila. We gathered information from public available websites or the town sites itself and made an attempt to organize it

Short history

Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube river and the capital of Brăila County, in close vicinity of Galați, at the intersection of the three historical areas of Moldova, Dobrogea and Vallachia (Tara Romaneasca), 200 km E of Bucharest.

A settlement at this location on the left bank of the Danube, in Wallachia, was mentioned with the name Drinago in a Spanish Libro de conoscimiento ("Book of knowledge", circa 1350) and in several Catalan portolan charts (Angelino de Dalorto, 1325/1330 and Angelino Dulcert, 1339). This may have been an erroneous transcription of Brillago. In Greek documents of roughly that time, the city is referred to as Proilabum or Proilava, a Greek language adaptation of its Slavic name, Brailov. In German language sources, it is mentioned as Uebereyl.

The origin and meaning of the name is unknown. The real origins of the city though lays in Neolithic (5000 b.C.), same as Trioa, Rome, Alexandria or Athens as the latest discoveries in Brailita neighbourhood archaeological sites reveals.

Most of Braila’s inhabitants were fishermen but also farmers, growing plants or grazing animals and because of their habits and the vicinity with the big river called Danube, they incorporated in the city crest, the sailing vessel.

As a “kaza”, the town and its surrounding area was controlled by Ottoman Turks from 1538- 1540 until 1829 (it was restored to Wallachia through the Akkerman Convention); the Ottomans called it Ibrail or Ibraila.

At that time, being considered a big and powerful city, the ottomans built a fortress with thick brick walls designed with 5 main areas, churches and mosques (one mosque still in use, transformed in an orthodox one due to the lack of Turks in the area, called “Sfintii Arhangheli Mihail si Gavrila”, in the Traian Square)

Brăila was attacked, plundered, and set fire to by the forces of Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great on February 2, 1470, during the retaliation campaign against Wallachian Prince Radu the Fair, who had allied himself with the Ottomans. It was briefly ruled by Michael the Brave, prince of Wallachia (1595- 1596).

During the 19th century, the port became one of the three most important ports on the Danube in Wallachia, the other two being Turnu and Giurgiu. The city's greatest period of prosperity was at the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, when it was an important port for most of the merchandise coming in and going out of Romania.

After the 1989 Revolution, Braila entered a period of economic decline, but the beauty of the old areas of the city remained untouched.

Braila is not a museum city but the visitors can feel the magic legends and the history all over the city.

The ethnic makeup is as follows:

- Romanians: 97.25%

- Lipovans: 1.6%

- Roma: 0.71%

- Greeks: 0.14%

- Other: 0.3%

In 2010, Braila had an estimated population of 210,245.

Accessible to small and medium-sized oceangoing ships, Brăila has large grain-handling and warehousing facilities. It is also an important industrial center, with metalworking, textile, food-processing and other factories.

Streets radiating from near the port towards Brăila's center are crossed at symmetrical intervals by concentric streets following the geometric design of the old Ottoman fortifications.

The old center of the city has many 19th century buildings, some of them fully restored. The most important monuments are the Greek Church, erected at 1865 by the Greek community, the Sfinții Arhangheli Church, former jāmi during the Ottoman rule (until 1831), the 19th century Sfântul Nicolae Church, also from the 19th century, the Maria Filotti theatre, the Palace of Culture and its Art Museum, the History Museum, musical society Lyra and the old Water Tower (bigger in Romania in its time). The latter houses a restaurant and a rotation system (360° in one hour).

The city featured also some nationwide important events like:

- the first electric tram in 1901;

- the first factory for cellulose made of reed 1906;

- the first power factory ;

- the first voyage on Danube with a steam boat;

- one of the first cities where public illumination (petrol lamps) was introduced in 1858.

Photo of the old centre, the statue of Traian the emperor on the right side

Another interesting site is the Public Garden, a park situated above the bank of the Danube with a view over the river and the Măcin Mountains.

The Church of the Holy Archangels is the oldest in the city. Begun in 1667, the former mosque was transformed into an Orthodox Church in 1808.

Early in 2006 the municipality received European Union funds to renovate the old centre of the city, aiming to transform Braila into a major tourist attraction of Muntenia.

Braila’s bus system is operated by the town hall in cooperation with Braicar Company, with multiple bus configurations available, servicing most of the city.

The city has several local newspapers, including Obiectiv-Vocea Brăilei, Monitorul de Brăila, Ziarul de Brăila and Arcașu'. It also has two television stations: Mega TV and the local stations of Antena 1.

About the city, Nicolae Iorga, a nationwide known scientist, said that “Braila is not the daughter of Tara Romaneasca but the mother of this country itself”.

With its streets guarded by the beautiful smell of acacia and lime trees and embraced by big large old chestnut trees, Braila is full of romance and you will never forget the time spent in there.